Statistics

The question of how to measure the extent of homelessness is widely debated, both at national and local levels (Busch-Geertsema, 2010). Measurement and the techniques of enumeration deployed are, of course, closely connected to how homelessness is defined. Varying definitions of homelessness are used in data collection systems even within the same country; there is also administrative variation in how homelessness is recorded or ‘counted’ by individual European countries.

The data presented here on the extent of women’s homelessness recorded by individual European countries are based on point-in-time measures and, therefore, do not provide information on ‘inflows’ to, or ‘outflows’ from, homelessness. Importantly, the data are not directly comparable across nations owing to the different definitions and enumeration techniques used within individual countries. It is also critical to note that current methodologies and enumeration techniques are likely to under-represent women in European homelessness statistics (see Pleace, 2016).